A large transaction processing system such as VisaNet™, processes over one hundred million financial transactions (e.g., credit card transactions) per day. Typically, the processing system runs on a platform which may include one or more mainframe computers. In complex cases, the processing system runs under several interconnected computer platforms that are located in multiple locations for redundancy and workload sharing.
Making software modifications or enhancements to a live or production computer system requires careful planning. Typically, a set of software modification projects are grouped into an install plan which has a projected install date. On the install date, all of the modification projects in the install plan are released into the production system at the same time.
Each software modification project typically adds or modifies a particular feature. An example of a software modification project may be a feature to add a new transaction type such that the computer system can handle prepaid card transactions in addition to credit/debit card transactions.
Each software modification project is assigned a number such as a request tracking number (RTN) for tracking purposes. Once software changes related to a particular RTN are made, they are turned over to a software tester.
The tester creates a set of test cases (e.g., test prepaid card transactions) to run against the modified software. The test cases should include different types of transactions to include all of the expected scenarios that may be encountered in the real world. For example, one test case may be a purchase transaction scenario from an overseas POS terminal using a prepaid card issued by issuer A while another test case may be a chargeback transaction scenario from a domestic POS terminal using a prepaid card issued by issuer B.
Next, the tester needs to create a test environment in a test computer system so that the production system is not affected in any way. The test environment typically includes copies of all production applications that are needed, modified applications and test cases. In the case of a mainframe using job control language (JCL) that communicates with the operating system of the mainframe, the test environment comprises a tester controlled library containing copies of production JCL, production procedures (PROCS), modified programs or applications, test JCL programs, test parameter files used by the test JCL programs, and test data files.
In the case of a JCL mainframe environment, the test environment is specified using a schedule of jobs that instructs the mainframe to load, copy and execute certain applications and procedures, among other things.
Typically, the tester would need to set up a series of different test environments to fully test each software modification project. Each time the tester requires the setup of a new test environment, the request is sent to an information technology (IT) department that manages computer resources.
Conventionally, the testers request generation and regeneration of test environments through email. Because there are no standard formats to follow in submitting the request, testers often forget to include all of the parameters that are needed to set up the test environments. This has caused a needless exchange of back and forth communications just to complete the required setup parameters. Another disadvantage of the conventional method is that if a manager wants to see a report such as how many environment setup requests were submitted for a particular software modification project or for a full install plan, the preparation of the report becomes a gargantuan task to go through all of the email exchanges with the testers. Also, the manually prepared report may be inaccurate as some email requests may have been deleted or overlooked.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a system and method for more efficiently and more accurately managing computer environment setup requests so as to eliminate incomplete environment setup requests. It is also desirable to provide such a system with a reporting capability to allow managers to easily track the submitted environment setup requests.